La Trobe latest to lift HECS fees

La Trobe University will increase some HECS fees by the maximum 25 per cent next year. The university's council approved the higher charges last night.

The only courses not to face a fee hike are education and nursing, exempt under the Federal Government's higher education changes.

The council also decided to maintain its policy of not offering domestic undergraduate full-fee-paying places. Vice-chancellor Michael Osborne said that a failure to levy additional funding through increasing HECS fees would lead to an unacceptable fall in the quality of higher education for students.

He said the university would introduce new student scholarships, refurbish ageing buildings and facilities and try to address rising student to staff ratios.

La Trobe University has 26,000 students spread across eight campuses from Bundoora to Albury-Wodonga.

The higher education changes allow universities to charge a 25 per cent premium on HECS fees from 2005 and increase the quota of domestic full-fee-paying students to 35 per cent.

President of the La Trobe Students' Representative Council Lindsay Rayner said the decision would put tertiary education beyond the reach of many students. "Students already pay for their education twice, once through HECS and once through tax, so the user pays twice," he said.

"Any increase in HECS ignores the benefits that society itself gains from an educated population."

Mr Rayner said the decision to lift the HECS repayment threshold to $35,000 was a "carrot" dangled by the Government to get fee increases through university councils.

Based on 2005 HECS charges, the cost of arts and science degrees would rise from $3854 to $4818 a year, business and economics degrees from $5490 to $6862 and a law degree from $6427 to $8033.

Opposition education spokeswoman Jenny Macklin said La Trobe's decision to increase fees would place Victorian students in "deeper and deeper" debt.

"This will leave students with massive debt, making it harder and harder to buy a home and start a family. Students will now be paying $20,000 for a basic science degree," she said.

La Trobe became the second Victorian university to lift HECS fees by the maximum amount. Deakin University decided to increase charges across most of its courses on Saturday. Natural science and engineering units face a 5 per cent HECS rise.